Several people have died and four others were hospitalized after a head-on collision involving two cars on the M9 motorway in County Kildare, Ireland, in the early hours of Sunday.
One vehicle had been travelling southbound on the northbound carriageway between Junctions 3 and 4 when it struck an oncoming car at approximately 03:00 local time. Two women in their 30s from the second vehicle were taken to Tallaght University Hospital in critical condition, while a woman in her 20s and a child were admitted to separate hospitals in serious condition, police said. The section of the M9 between Junctions 3 and 4 remains closed in both directions with local diversions in place.
An Garda Síochána confirmed that no police pursuit was underway at the time of the crash and that Fiosrú, the Office of the Police Ombudsman, has been notified as investigators examine the circumstances of the collision.